Recharging my Batteries - Nap times

I won't lie.  Today was almost completely unproductive.  All those late nights have finally gotten to me and so I got almost nothing done. 

KC and Courtney sleeping April 2009

Once the kids were taken to school, I had one hour to tidy up the house before the dietitian came over to check on Jacob's progress and to see if any changes needed to be made to his diet.  She got to experience first hand his gagging fits and seemed quite disturbed by the whole incident while I sat there with a towel under his chin just trying to catch all the saliva and bile he was throwing up.  She mentioned that she would see if she could put in a good word for us to get the liquid Prevacid rather than the tablet form or see if we can be put onto some other form of medication.  It would be nice, but I'm not holding my breath. 

About an hour after she left, Courtney was kind enough to decide she wanted to take a nap and she went down without incident. Plus, bless her heart, she slept for 3 hours!!!!! I'm lucky if this little girl will stay in her bed for 30 - 45 minutes on most days.  30 minutes after Courtney fell asleep so did Jacob while I was rocking and burping him.  He'd been fitful all day, so I just let him stay on me and the entire house got a 3 hour nap.  It was blissful.  We were awaken by Elisha coming home from school at 3PM and the normal everyday after-school life began.  But it was nice to accomplish nothing but get a nap in today.  It was a great battery re-charger.  I'm hoping that it will have recharged my batteries long enough to get through this weekend. Yay!

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Bang! Bang! You've Been Shot! - RSV shots and immunizations

Why is it that everything seems to take four times longer than it used to 2 years ago? 

2 Years ago, I was working out 3 1/2 hours a day, lost 75 lbs, my business was on tap to break six figures in sales and I could fill most of the orders in 3-4 hours a day, I was in the Young Women's Presidency, carting  Nathan and Elisha to all of their various activities, and a full-time mom.  Now, 2 years (and 2 more children) later, there are days when I'm lucky to get changed out of my PJ's before KC comes home from work in the evening.

Today was one of those days - and I had KC home helping me out!  It was shot day for Courtney and Jacob.  Courtney came first.  Because of Jacob's birth in October, we missed Courtney's 18 month visit (and shots) with the pediatrician.  When things finally calmed down, it became very apparent that I couldn't put off immunizations forever and a date was set.  When we pulled into the doctor's parking lot this afternoon, Courtney assumed it was another "Jacob visit".  When I told her that this visit was just for her - today was "Courtney Day" she squealed with delight!!!  I didn't have the heart to tell her she'd hate me by the end of the visit. 

When we unstrapped her from her car seat, she quickly ran to the front of the office building where they have large buttons for persons with disabilities to push in order to have the front doors automatically open.  Pushing the buttons and watching the doors open is one of Courtney's favorite things to do at the doctor's office.  So, she immediately ran to the doors, pushed the button, ran through the first set of doors, pushed the second button and ran through the second set of doors.  Then, she ran to the other end of the lobby where the other children were playing and cozied up to one of the kids like they had been friends for decades.  It was the cutest thing!  We let her play in blissful ignorance until the nurse called her name and Courtney proudly ran to the nurse to present herself to be whisked off to her room.

Once there, she new the procedure.  We undressed her and took her to the scale to be weighed (nearly 30 lbs), she laid down to be measured (35 1/2 inches), and then we brought her back to her room to wait for the doctor.  As we were waiting, I made the mistake of telling Courtney that Daddy and I had had our shots yesterday and I showed her the hard, red bump on my upper arm from the flu shot.  One look at my arm and you could immediately tell from Courtney's face that she knew EXACTLY why she was there.  Her face changed to shock and horror, she grabbed her thighs (where past needles have been inserted for other immunizations) and ran screaming to the other side of the room.  It was all down hill from there and she didn't even attempt to be sweet for the rest of the visit. 

She took the 4 shots to her thighs like a trooper and screamed for only a few seconds, which was quickly stopped by letting her know of the Allred family tradition:  She who gets shots also gets ice cream!!! 

She quickly got dressed after that revelation, we stopped off at another office for Jacob's first Synergis (RSV) shot - 1 shot in each thigh (ouch), once a month for up to 5 months - picked up Nathan from school, then stopped at the local Dairy Queen for Courtney's much anticipated ice cream - Chocolate extreme blizzard!! 

Once she had some ice cream in her belly, those nasty ol' shots were a long lost memory and she was onto bigger and better things like, say, playing in the melting snow!!! :)  By the time we'd made our 3 stops, it was already nearly 5PM and our day had slipped away.  Hmmmm.  I guess I'll try to be productive again tomorrow.

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Hangin' with the Cardiologist - Preparing for heart surgery

Today was the much anticipated day to visit the cardiologist.  We had been told by Dr. Jensen to expect to set a hard date for surgery and to maybe even meet our surgeon.  K.C. took time off from work, I found a very VERY wonderful woman to watch Courtney for the day (bless her heart!) and we took off to the cardiologist to see what fate had in store for Jacob.

Amazingly, we were on time - in spite of the snow and leaving the house 20 minutes late.  In past visits, we usually got to wait in the waiting room at least 45 minutes to an hour before being seen.  Today, I think we were in our room in less than 10 minutes.  We were greeted by a warm, friendly nurse who proceeded to TRY to get his blood pressure (to no avail! - he just wiggled too much!) and to check his oxygen levels -still hovering around 90-91%.

We were whisked down the hall to check his weight - a whopping 10 lbs 2 oz. and then across the hall for his echo cardiogram which told us that he has only a slight leak in his valve. This apparently means that repairing his valves will have a much higher likelihood of being successful the first time around.

After that, we had the "too many cooks in the kitchen"  experience again.  This doctor wanted to have surgery in 6 - 8 more weeks rather than Dr. Jensen's 2 weeks.  She also upped Jacobs formula mixture to 28 calories per ounce and his intake to 28 mls per hour (even though Dr. Wagner had been excited by his weight gain 2 days earlier - "not too much and not too little").  K.C.  politely but firmly informed this doctor that we had been told to expect 2 weeks for surgery and she complied with his request.  A consultation with the surgeon has been set for next Wednesday.  We will meet with him, he will check Jacob out, and he will choose a time in his schedule for the surgery.  After that, we will meet with the cardiologist the day before surgery for a panel of blood tests, another echo cardiogram, and a series of other procedures.  From the sounds of it, this will take several hours.  I'm not sure whether to be excited that Jacob's surgery is finally here or to be scared out of my mind.

It helps to know though that in spite of the communication quirks, we really ARE working with an amazing group of doctors and specialists.  I know that Jacob will be in good hands and I've been told by many that our doctors are some of the best around. 

(Jacob on the way to visit the cardiologist - checking out the new snow fall!)

As I sat contemplating what we had in store for us over the next couple of weeks, I couldn't help but notice how much my baby has changed even in the last few days.  He has finally begun to grow hair, he has gained control of his hands and uses them often to bat away our hands as we try to give him his Prevacid orally, and he's so expressive with his eyes and mouth.  It's like he's come alive!  He's checking everything out around him and has cut his sleeping time in half.  We've even caught him trying to roll over - and almost succeeding - a couple of times!

I find myself unable to resist picking him up for no apparent reason and just looking into his big blue eyes, marveling at what a fun personality is beginning to emerge from his tiny little body.  His zest for life. His ever-present patience with us (you'd think we were first time parents with the way we bumble around with him!) and those around him, his amazing curiosity to see everything around him, and so much more.  I know that life as we know it is just a hiccup.  Jacob will be scurrying around with us in tow in just a matter of a few short months and all of this will be just a distant memory. 

Oh, I can hardly wait!!!